My favorite season in our fair city is autumn, hands down. During a good year, we’re blessed with crisp, breezy days that feel straight out of a 2006 CW show. When I was a teen, I enjoyed the weather by walking in my neighborhood, but as I’ve gotten older and explored more, I’ve found out how much more there is to do! With this post, I want to compile a list of mostly free or relatively low-cost activities–things I wish I had known about as a teen in Columbia, MO. Continue reading “A CoMo Teen’s Guide to Autumn”
Apologies to Shakespeare (whoever they were — find out more about the “Shakespeare authorship question” at this link), but I couldn’t resist a little spell-song to celebrate half a decade (!!!!!) of Spooky, Not Scary recommendations. It’s been a horrendous honor and a petrifying privilege to flex my “Y I K E S” muscles in service of my fellow self-appointed Big Babies. 🫡 Here’s to another five fairly unfrightening years!
For those just joining in, I give you the following titles that are avowedly Spooky, Not Scary™. Each title is rated on a scale of 0-5 smashed pumpkins. The more smashed pumpkins (which I’ve metaphorically dropped out of terror), the closer the tv show/movie/video is to being truly frightening.
Note: no gourds were harmed in the making of this list, though some may have been consumed, especially if transformed via kitchen witchery into a baked good evil.
Sometimes, it’s hard to be a body in the world. Movies, television shows, advertisements, “influencers”, well-meaning family – it seems like everyone has an opinion on what we should look like. At least one-third of the world’s population is fat, yet fat people are discriminated against in all aspects of daily life. We are often asked to take up less space, to be less, to accept less. All body shapes deserve care, love, and respect. And it can be hard to love your body when you hear nothing positive about it. Whether you are looking to do the work of accepting your body or want to see your body reflected in a story, I’ve got some great books for you!
Wait, what’s that? Pride Month normally happens in June???
While it’s my firm belief that we should celebrate & uplift LGBTQIA+ pride & joy & solidarity in every month, let me rephrase: Happy Pride Month, Mid-Missouri!!! 📅🌈🌽
Welcome back, folks. Remember when I posted part one and I said I’d have part two up shortly? Well…pretend that didn’t happen. That said, if you need any context for how I’m choosing these titles, check out the post I made for the other six signs.
Libra is known for many things—a propensity for balance in each aspect of their life, a penchant for stylish things, a desire to keep the peace. For Libra’s duality, I liked the dichotomy this book sets up between how Star and Moon, two sisters, live their lives; specifically, Star’s superstardom vs. Moon’s wallflowerdom, and the friction from that. I also felt that the “oh no, he’s hot” aspect with Santiago was very “Libra”—while they are very perceptive and intelligent folks, that perception means it’s hard to miss when someone who initially annoys you has…positive qualities. (Or, like, objective hotness.) Coupled with Libra’s attempts toward balance and fair judgement, this story felt right up their alley. Continue reading “A YA Book For Your Sun Sign: Part II”
We are excited to announce that we have the winners of this year’s Teen Photo Contest! We had 22 entries and they were all outstanding! The teens have submitted their photographic interpretations of this year’s Summer Reading theme, “Unearth a Story,”™ and after much deliberation, we have selected this year’s winners. Below are the top three winners. Continue reading “Teen Photo Contest Winners 2026”
The library is hosting its annual cosplay event on Monday, July 27, and it is one of my very favorite programs.
Cosplay is a contraction of the words costume + play. It is a performance art in which participants wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. These characters can come from anywhere: movies, comic books, video games, cartoons, or an original character. Cosplay was born from the love of fandoms in the 1960s, but it has grown in scope.
Our cosplay contest will be fun and low-pressure, but there are people who spend a lot of time and talent on cosplay. Some have even made a career out of it. Whether they work in cosplay construction, photography, or paid work at convention booths, there is the potential to make money.
There are cosplay contests held all over the world. But it’s not just about how good your outfit looks. How accurate is it? How much of it did you make yourself? And there is the performance aspect: do you walk and talk and interact with the crowd like your character would?
Cosplay is fun for all ages, from the tiniest baby Spiderman to the older, wiser (?) Ms. Frizzle. We have four age categories, a group category, and tons of great prizes. Registration begins at 6:00 p.m., and the runway show and judging will follow at 6:30 p.m.
You may already know that this summer we’ve been unearthing all kinds of stories for Summer Reading 2026.
(If you somehow didn’t know Summer Reading has been happening, as perhaps you have been living under a rock and intentionally not unearthing anything whatsoever 🪨🙃, never fear! You have until August 2nd to finish your tracker to redeem a free mini planter and a chance to win big in our grand prize drawing. 📚📝🤓🆓🪴🎇🎁)
The library is hosting its 